


Metal Arms May Break My Bones

by taylor_tut



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Broken Bones, CPR, Drowning, Gen, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 16:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10723182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_tut/pseuds/taylor_tut
Summary: A prompt from my tumblr: Shiro breaks Lance's ribs while performing CPR. Shiro feels guilty. Lance is... Lance.





	Metal Arms May Break My Bones

The current carried the Blue Lion away faster than Shiro or Keith had expected. It was fast, faster than they anticipated, and Blue was swept away in the blink of an eye. 

The Black Lion flew alongside the river’s edge in an attempt to catch up with Blue, but skidded to a halt when something caught Shiro’s eye–a patch of brown in the water–the top of Lance’s head. Blue had ejected him so he wouldn’t be swept away with her. However in doing so, she hadn’t realized that Lance had removed his helmet when it had been cracked in the initial crash landing, obstructing his vision. Shiro was sure she’d never have tossed him into the river if she’d known that it’d drown him.

“Lance!” Shiro called out over the crashing sounds of the river, “Lance, can you hear me?” 

Lance couldn’t hear Shiro, but he was clearly still conscious. He was bobbing up and down in the water, and Shiro’s stomach tied itself in another knot every time he disappeared.

“Shiro, what are you waiting for? Get Black in there!” Keith called over the comms. 

“I’m afraid that’ll send him even further down,” Shiro replied, “And I don’t think I could grab him with the speed that the current is going. I could end up hurting him.” 

“So what’s the plan?” Keith asked frantically. 

“I don’t know,” Shiro admitted, “I–I don’t have one.”

Only seconds before Shiro had almost decided “fuck it” and gone in after Lance knowing that it would likely end in disaster, the top of Lance’s head bobbed above the surface of the water once more, no longer being dragged with the current. The current of the river had thrown him against a rock, and he was gripping it with everything he had. With Lance securely on a hard surface, Black could swoop in and grab the blue paladin in its mouth. 

Keith landed the Red Lion next to Black and immediately got out to guide Lance out of the metal jaws.

“Keith,” Shiro prompted desperately, clambering down from his own Lion as Keith situated Lance in a recumbent position.

“He’s not breathing.”

Shiro took Keith’s place kneeling beside Lance and began CPR. However, he didn’t take into account that the metal arm wouldn’t have the same kind of give that a flesh palm would, and immediately felt three rapid pops upon the first compression. Shiro staggered backwards in shock.

“I–Keith, you need to–because I can’t–I already broke–fuck.”

Keith understood enough of the bits of sentences to know what Shiro wanted.

“I don’t know how,” he warned.

“Press rhythmically–faster than that–good, and harder. The pressure’s got to go deep.” Shiro counted out 30 compressions before he motioned for Keith to pause so he could breathe for the blue paladin. He pinched his nose, tipped his head back, and made a seal over his lips to allow his breath to fill Lance’s saturated chest cavity. 

As soon as Lance’s airway was open and there was air in his lungs, his eyes flew open and he started coughing. Shiro helped him to sit up, coughing an alarming amount of water out of his lungs. It came up in waves, sounding painful and harsh, and even once the bulk of the water had been expelled, he was still coughing to clear the small droplets that remained. 

“Breathe slowly,” Shiro instructed, rubbing Lance’s back. After a few minutes of that, Lance finally seemed to be able to take at least a few breaths without coughing, which was helping his complexion. He didn’t look so grey anymore. However, being able to breathe brought the pain in his rib cage to his attention. 

“Jesus– _ow_ –” he moaned. Lance laid back, trying to ease some of the pressure on his rib cage.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked.

“Yeah,” Lance managed through a clenched jaw, “I think I may have bruised a rib when I fell in the water; it’s no big deal.” 

Shiro’s face fell. “Actually,” he confessed, “I did that. I’m so sorry. I was trying to do CPR, and my metal arm–I didn’t even think about it.” He braced himself for Lance to lash out, but when he finally met Lance’s gaze, it was kind and patient. 

“Thank you,” he smiled. “You saved me. Of course you weren’t thinking about your arm,” he smirked, “I just drowned. Ribs will heal.”

Shiro felt relief crash over him in a wave. “You don’t have to be so quick to forgive me,” he said skeptically, “I think I broke three of your ribs.”

“Dang, muscles,” Lance chuckled, coughing immediately, “That’s almost impressive.”

“You’re not handling this like a person,” Keith informed.

“Eh,” Lance shrugged. “Can we go back to the castle?” Lance was trying his best to hide it, but he was clearly in a lot of pain. Shiro scooped him up as gently as he could and carried him back to the lions. 

“Seriously, though,” Shiro repeated, “I’m really sorry.”

“Please stop feeling bad about it,” Lance begged. “You did what you had to do. I know you’re used to people jumping you when things go wrong, but you’re with us now, and your good intentions matter. I know you’d never try to hurt me, Shiro.”

That. That was what Shiro had been so afraid of. That Lance would look at Shiro and forever associate him with this pain, just as seeing the Galra soldiers sent phantom pains through his arm and face. That Lance would never be able to trust Shiro to help him again because he’d accidentally hurt him. That Lance’s trust had been shattered with his ribs.

It made Shiro want to cry when Lance smiled at him gently, despite his eyebrows being knitted together in pain and his hand protectively guarding his abdomen. 

“Shiro?” Lance asked. “You okay?”

“Don’t worry about me, you lunatic,” Shiro deflected, trying to blink back tears and avoid Lance’s eyes.

“Shit, are you–you’re really that upset about this?”

“Of course I am!” Shiro blew up, “I hurt you! I could have killed you, if I’d pressed any higher up on your chest!”

Lance winced. “You didn’t mean to.”

“But it happened.”

“Well,” Lance admitted, “yeah. It did. But we’re a team, we’re fighting dangerous enemies, and we’re together, like, _all the time_. You can’t think that accidents aren’t going to happen.”

“I still feel bad.”

Lance smiled and reached out to pat Shiro’s head, wincing against the pain in his ribs. “I know you do, buddy,” he cooed. “Don’t worry. A couple hours in the pod and I’ll be good as new.”

Shiro could see how exhausted Lance was and he didn’t like the wet sound of his coughing, so he let the subject drop. He touched his scar with his metal fingers and wondered if he really believed in “good as new.”


End file.
